If you land at Florence Peretola late, use the T2 tram if you can reach the platform before the final airport departure: 23:58 from Sunday through Thursday, or 01:15 on Friday and Saturday nights. Miss it and the practical fallback is a licensed taxi or a pre-booked transfer, not a late city-center airport bus. A Florence airport late arrival is therefore mostly about knowing the last departure from Peretola, rather than the tram network’s broader “service until 00:30/02:00” wording.
The last T2 tram time that actually matters
GEST, the Florence tram operator, currently lists the final Peretola Aeroporto → San Marco – Università departure at 23:58 Sunday to Thursday and 01:15 on Friday and Saturday nights. The first airport departure is 05:00 every day. This is the detail to save on your phone. GEST also describes the overall tram service as running until 00:30, and until 02:00 on Friday and Saturday nights, but those later times do not mean a tram is still leaving the airport that late. Check the current GEST timetable on your travel day.
- Sunday to Thursday: last airport-to-city T2 at 23:58.
- Friday and Saturday nights: last airport-to-city T2 at 01:15.
- Every day: first airport-to-city T2 at 05:00.
Those are platform departure times, not flight-arrival times. Touching down before 23:58 does not mean you can catch the 23:58 tram. You still have to reach the gate, leave the aircraft, pass passport control if required, collect checked luggage, and walk out to the stop. On public holidays, during engineering work, or after a major disruption, recheck GEST rather than assuming the standard pattern.
From Arrivals to the T2 platform
Florence Airport is compact, and GEST puts the Peretola Aeroporto stop about two minutes on foot from the terminal. After baggage claim, leave Arrivals and follow the signs for Tramvia or T2. You are looking for the airport tram terminus outside the terminal, not a railway platform. Florence Airport does not have a mainline train station.
- Collect your bags and leave the Arrivals hall.
- Follow signs for Tramvia to Peretola Aeroporto.
- Board T2 in the direction of San Marco – Università.
- Check your stop before boarding so you are not working it out with luggage at midnight.
The tram takes roughly 20 minutes to reach the central station area. If your accommodation is near Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the most useful stop is normally Alamanni – Stazione S.M.N.. The T2 now continues beyond the station toward the northern side of the historic center, so travelers staying near San Marco should not automatically get off at SMN just because an older airport guide tells them to.
Ticketing when the last tram is close
Since 1 August 2026, the ordinary Florence urban ticket costs €2.00 and is valid for 90 minutes from validation or activation. You can buy a ticket from the machine at the tram stop, use the at bus app, or pay onboard with a contactless bank card, phone, or enabled wearable. With contactless payment, wait for the green confirmation on the validator. On urban services you tap each time you board. One physical card or device covers one passenger, so a couple cannot simply tap the same card twice for two people. See the current Autolinee Toscane fares and contactless rules.
If you are racing the final departure, onboard contactless payment saves you from losing time at the ticket machine. If you buy a paper ticket instead, validate it when you board. A digital ticket must be activated according to the app instructions.
Which central stop should you use late at night?
Do not treat “city center” as one stop. Florence’s old center is walkable, but even a short final walk feels rather different after midnight with two suitcases. Match the tram stop to the actual hotel address.
- Alamanni – Stazione S.M.N.: the practical choice for the main train station and accommodation on the station side of the historic center.
- San Marco – Università: useful for accommodation on the northern side of the center, including the Accademia area.
If your accommodation is deeper inside the pedestrian center or south of the river, the tram may still be cheaper, but a taxi can remove an awkward final walk with luggage. For a better sense of what is genuinely walkable once you are in town, see our guide to walking distances in Florence.
When a taxi makes more sense even before the tram stops
The T2 is usually the simplest arrival if you are traveling light and staying near one of its central stops. A taxi is the better choice when your hotel is well away from the tram corridor, you have a large checked suitcase, you are traveling with small children and a lot of gear, someone in the group has mobility needs that make the final walk difficult, or your scheduled landing is uncomfortably close to the last tram.
There is no official “minimum connection time” from landing to the tram. As a practical planning rule, if your scheduled touchdown is only 30 to 45 minutes before the final departure, have the taxi option ready from the start. That is not a guaranteed cutoff. It is simply a sensible buffer for the parts of an airport arrival you do not control.
If the tram has finished: use the official taxi service
Follow the Taxi signs from Arrivals and use a licensed white Florence taxi. Florence’s radio-taxi services operate around the clock; if the airport rank is temporarily empty or slow, you can call 055 4242 or 055 4390. Do not accept a ride from someone approaching you inside the terminal and offering a private car without a booking.
What the airport taxi should cost to central Florence
Florence has a municipal predetermined fare for rides between Vespucci Airport and hotels or private destinations inside the defined central city area. The current tariff sheet lists €28 on ordinary weekday daytime rides, €30 on holidays, and €32 at night from 22:00 to 06:00. Luggage is extra at €1.20 per piece, and there is also a €1.20 supplement for each passenger beyond the third, within the published cap. The predetermined fare is compulsory for the specified route and includes the radio-taxi call. You can verify it in the Comune di Firenze taxi tariff.
The catch is the boundary. “Central city area” is a defined municipal zone, roughly within the ring-road and old-wall perimeter shown on the tariff map. It does not mean every address with “Firenze” in it. If your hotel is outside that zone, the normal meter and applicable supplements can apply instead. If you are unsure, show the driver the exact address and ask, “Tariffa fissa aeroporto-centro?” before departure.
Do not count on a late airport bus or a walk-up chauffeur desk
Current Florence Airport transport information does not provide a Florence city-center night bus as a fallback to the T2. That matters because older pages still circulate with instructions for a city-center airport shuttle. If the airport tram has stopped, plan on a taxi or a transfer you arranged in advance rather than walking around looking for a bus bay. The airport’s current bus page lists other bus connections, not a late Florence-center replacement for T2.
The airport also lists a CO.A.VE. chauffeur-service desk, but its published desk hours are 08:00 to 20:00. That makes it useful for a pre-arranged service, not a dependable walk-up rescue after midnight. If you want an NCC (noleggio con conducente, private car with driver), book before you fly and make sure the service tracks your flight delay.
Once you know whether your first night starts with the tram or a car, you can organize the rest of your trip around the realistic hotel arrival time rather than the scheduled landing time.
Luggage rules can change the decision
GEST’s airport-specific guidance currently allows one bag up to 10 kg and 55×40×20 cm free of charge. Larger luggage can travel with an additional ticket, up to a maximum of 80×45×25 cm and 20 kg per piece, with no more than two such pieces per passenger. Bags above those limits are not permitted under the published airport rules. The trams also have no dedicated luggage racks, so your suitcase stays with you.
This is easy to overlook because many airline checked bags are allowed to weigh more than the tram’s 20 kg maximum. If you arrive with a heavy 23 kg suitcase, a taxi is not just more comfortable; it avoids relying on a bag that falls outside the tram operator’s stated limit.
Strollers are carried free. GEST also states that all tram platforms and trams are accessible to passengers with mobility or visual impairments, and trams have designated wheelchair positions. If you need a specific taxi setup, such as an accessible vehicle, a larger car, or child equipment, arrange it in advance rather than assuming the first vehicle at the rank will have it.
What to do when the normal plan fails
- Your flight is delayed past the last tram: stop planning around public transport and go straight to the official taxi rank. If you have a pre-booked driver, message the company as soon as the delay appears.
- The tram is still within service hours but suspended: check GEST service notices. If the estimated restart is unclear, switch to a taxi before a whole flight’s worth of passengers does the same.
- The taxi rank has a long queue: call 055 4242 or 055 4390, or ask your hotel to arrange a licensed taxi. Keep your hotel address ready on your phone.
- Your apartment has a check-in deadline: contact the host before takeoff with your flight number and expected late arrival. Do not wait until you are standing outside a locked building at 01:00 to discover that keys are collected somewhere else.
Late-arrival mistakes that cost time
- Reading “tram service until 00:30” or “until 02:00” and assuming the airport still has departures at those times.
- Waiting at the ticket machine when the last tram is boarding even though onboard contactless payment is available.
- Trying to buy two contactless tickets for two people with the same physical bank card.
- Getting off automatically at SMN when San Marco is closer to your hotel.
- Assuming the airport’s fixed taxi fare covers every Florence address.
- Looking for an old city-center airport shuttle after T2 has stopped.
- Relying on the airport’s chauffeur desk as a midnight walk-up option even though its published desk hours end at 20:00.
If your scheduled landing is close to the final tram, save the GEST timetable, your hotel address, and the two Florence radio-taxi numbers before the flight. That turns a delay from a late-night puzzle into a simple switch from Plan A to Plan B.